THE FAMILY READER OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW; CONTAINING A Familiar Exposition OF THE MORE DIFFICULT PASSAGES OF THE SACRED TEXT, TOGETHER WITH A PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL COMMENTARY, CHIEFLY SELECTED 57 BY THE REV. J. E. RIDDLE, Author of "Ecclesiastical Chronology," "Christian Antiquities," "Sermons," "First Sundays at Church," "Luther and his Times," "Latin-English Dictionary," &c. BATH: BINNS AND GOODWIN. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.; JAMES NISBET & CO. ; AND WRIGHT, ALLIS, AND BAGNALL, ADVERTISEMENT. The Compiler and Editor of "The Family Reader of the New Testament," desires to express his gratitude to the giver of all good for that measure of health and strength whereby he has been enabled to complete the Exposition of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. He now complies with the wishes of several friends in consenting to the publication of this portion of the Work as a separate and independent volume. Purchasers may be afterwards supplied with successive portions of the Commentary, either in Monthly Numbers, or in Annual Volumes, according to the progress of the work. $ I. CHAP. I. 1. THE book of the "generation with a teachable temper, a serious, humble, holy frame of mind! Whenever we meet together for this purpose, I will begin by reading of Jesus Christ, the son of Da-to you a portion of the sacred text, vid, 'the son of Abraham. Luke iii. 23. b Ps. cxxxii. 11. Isa. xi. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5; ch. xxii. 42. John vii. 42. Acts ii. 30, & xiii. 23. Rom. i. 3. e Gen. xii. 3, & xxii. 18. Gal. iii. 16. Reader. We are now about to begin our family reading of the New Testament, on a systematic plan; and I wish, at the outset, to describe to you the method which I have devised, with a view to derive and impart instruction from our study of this portion of the sacred volume. May our Divine Teacher be always present in the midst of us, to assist our feeble endeavours, to remove our ignorance, to give us a right understanding of his sacred word, and, above all, to endue us of such length as I may deem expedient. I will then make some remarks in explanation of the passage read, giving the interpretation of any difficult or obscure verses, and pointing out the connection and bearing of the whole, whenever such elucidation may seem necessary. But I do not intend to say all that may occur to my mind on the several subjects which will be brought before our notice; since I wish to leave room for your own inquiries, and to encourage a serious and lively conversation concerning the meaning and force of the successive portions of the sacred volume. I shall also occasionally take an opportunity of |